Weather swings cause pothole problems in Rockford area

The city felt the stinging cold of minus 18 degrees - not including the windchill - on Jan. 6. A week later temperatures were in the low 40s before they began to drop again Tuesday. The freeze and thaw of water beneath the pavement is the perfect recipe for potholes.

"When you have this freeze-thaw it just wreaks havoc on the streets," said Tim Hanson, Rockford's director of public works. "We're going to have a busy pothole season this spring. I can see that already."

Hanson said street crews fill potholes all year round, whenever employees aren't occupied with snow plowing or salting roads. The city typically fills between 100,000 and 125,000 potholes in a given year, he said. They've been especially busy after the recent temperature swings.

The same is true outside the city's boundaries. The Winnebago County Highway Department went through about 15 tons of patch as it scrambled to fill potholes Thursday, Friday and Monday, operations manager Dan Davis said. When snow is cleared, they'll be back to work on potholes, he said.

The harsh winter has contributed to a recent spike in claims filed against the city, said Rockford's legal director Patrick Hayes. Claims can be filed for a variety of issues that may cause property damage or injury, but Hayes said potholes are likely behind the recent uptick. In the final quarter of 2013, the city had 327 claims filed against it for damages. That's the highest number in the past three years and more than the 188 filed in all of 2012, Hayes said.

There's a high threshold, however, for getting a pothole claim paid. The city has to have known about the pothole and had a "reasonable" amount of time to fix it in order for damages to be paid.

Right now, pothole fixes are temporary. While asphalt plants are closed in the winter, the city uses cold patch to fill broken pavement, Hanson said. The cold patch contains oils that keep the material pliable enough to pack, but it's too pliable to be permanent - especially when heavy snow plows hit the streets again. It's meant to be a temporary patch to reduce damage to cars while the city waits for the chance to make a more permanent fix.

"Once we have the asphalt plants open, which is usually by the end of April, then we'll start putting more permanent stuff in," Hanson said.

Kevin Haas: 815-987-1410; khaas@rrstar.com; @KevinMHaas

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